Albany leaders look at downtown ahead of ASU/Darton merger

City leaders hope the South Georgia can take advantage of economic opportunities that the merger between Albany State and Darton College could bring.

State lawmakers heard from them at a meeting Monday to discuss the upcoming legislative session in Atlanta.

At the top of the list of concerns was the economic potential that the merger brings for downtown Albany.

"[One idea was] maybe having downtown space for the university. And we think this is a great idea because [of success] in other cities," said State Senator Freddie Powell Sims. "It really brings the college town feeling to downtown Albany."

Lawmakers also talked about potentially taking some older buildings downtown and using them for academic or administrative purposes.